Conservation and Advocacy Group Oceana Conduct Probe and Discover
Seafood Fraud
Widespread in New York, Miami, Boston and Los Angeles Markets and
Restaurants

By Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles
TimesMcClatchy-Tribune Regional News

Dec. 11, 2012--There's a good chance that the white tuna
sashimi served up at your favorite Manhattan sushi joint isn't white
tuna at all.

Instead, 94% of the fish labeled as white tuna in New York
turned out to be escolar, a type of snake mackerel with a toxin linked
to digestive problems, according to an investigation by conservation
and advocacy group Oceana.

DNA tests of 142 seafood samples taken from New York grocery
stores, restaurants and sushi venues showed that 39% were mislabeled as
different species, according to Oceana.

Out of 81 retail outlets probed in New York -- which included
shops in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Commack,
Scarsdale, Hudson and Edgewater, N.J. -- 58 featured improperly tagged
items, the group said.

Small markets had a 40% fraud rate, it said, while 12% of
items purchased at national chains were mislabeled. Each of the 16
sushi bars targeted served fish that didn't match its menu description.

Seafood purported to be red snapper turned out to be tilapia,
white bass, ocean perch and even tilefish, which sits on the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration's do-not-eat list because of its high mercury
content.

The U.S. currently imports more than 90% of its seafood.

"With an increasingly complex and obscure seafood supply
chain, plus lagging federal oversight and inspection of rising seafood
imports, it is difficult to identify who along the supply chain
perpetrates the fraud," according to the Oceana report.

In October, celebrity chefs such as Mario Batali, Rick Bayless
and Thomas Keller joined 500 other restaurant owners on an Oceana
petition to stop seafood fraud.